创新背景

为了将更快的相机带给世界，加州理工学院的研究人员开发了一种技术，可以达到每秒70万亿帧的极速，足以看到光的旅行。但就像手机中的相机一样，它只能产生平面图像。

创新过程

研究人员进一步发明了一种摄像机，不仅能以惊人的速度记录视频，还能在三维空间中记录。这款新相机使用了与其他压缩超快摄影(CUP)相机相同的底层技术，能够每秒拍摄1000亿帧。这个速度足以拍摄100亿张照片，比全世界人口的数量还多，就在眨眼的短暂时间里。

这种新技术被称为“单镜头立体偏振压缩超快摄影”，简称SP-CUP。

在CUP技术中，一个视频的所有帧都是在一个动作中捕获的，而不重复该事件。这使得CUP相机非常快（一个好的手机相机每秒可以拍摄60帧）。研究人员通过让相机的拍摄角度更像人类，为这种超快图像添加了第三维度。

当一个人观察周围的世界时，他们会觉得有些物体离自己较近，有些物体离自己较远。这种深度感知之所以成为可能，是因为人类的两只眼睛，每只眼睛观察物体及其周围环境的角度略有不同。来自这两幅图像的信息被大脑组合成一幅3d图像。SP-CUP相机的工作原理基本上是一样的。

新型的相机是立体的，它有一个镜头，但功能是两半，提供两个视角的偏移。两个通道模仿人类的眼睛。

就像人类大脑处理从眼睛接收到的信号一样，运行SP-CUP相机的计算机将这两个通道的数据处理成一个三维电影。

SP-CUP还具有另一项人类不具备的创新：看到光波偏振的能力。

光的偏振指的是光波在传播时振动的方向。以吉他弦为例，如果绳子向上拉（比如用手指拉），然后松开，绳子就会垂直振动。如果手指从侧面拨动它，弦就会水平振动。普通的光有向各个方向振动的波。然而，偏振光被改变了，所以它的波都朝着同一个方向振动。这可以通过自然的方式发生，例如当光从表面反射时，或作为人工操作的结果，如发生偏光滤镜。

虽然人类的眼睛不能直接检测到光的偏振，但这一现象已经被广泛应用：从液晶显示屏到偏光太阳镜和光学相机镜头，再到检测材料中隐藏的应力和分子三维结构的设备。

创新关键点

新型的相机是立体的，它有一个镜头，但功能是两半，提供两个视角的偏移。两个通道模仿人类的眼睛。

就像人类大脑处理从眼睛接收到的信号一样，运行SP-CUP相机的计算机将这两个通道的数据处理成一个三维电影。

创新价值

SP-CUP结合了高速三维图像和偏振信息的使用，使其成为一个强大的工具，可能适用于各种各样的科学问题。它能帮助研究人员更好地理解声发光的物理现象，声发光是一种声波在水或其他液体中产生微小气泡的现象。当气泡在形成后迅速坍塌时，它们会发出一束光。

Innovative development of ultrafast photography "SP-CUP" can take high-speed 3D images

The researchers went a step further and invented a camera that not only records video at incredible speeds, but also in three dimensions. The new camera uses the same underlying technology as other Compressed Ultra-Fast Photography (CUP) cameras and is capable of capturing 100 billion frames per second. That's fast enough to take 10 billion pictures, more than the entire population of the world, in the blink of an eye.

The new technique is called "single-lens stereo Polarization Compression ultrafast photography," or SP-CUP.

In CUP technology, all frames of a video are captured in a single action without repeating the event. This makes CUP cameras very fast (a good phone camera can shoot 60 frames per second). The researchers added a third dimension to this ultrafine image by making the camera shoot at a more human-like Angle.

When a person looks at the world around them, they feel that some objects are closer to them and some objects are farther away. This depth perception is possible because humans have two eyes, each of which views objects and their surroundings at slightly different angles. The information from the two images is combined into a 3d image by the brain. The SP-CUP camera works basically the same way.

The new camera is stereoscopic, it has one lens, but functions in two halves, providing an offset of two viewing angles. Two channels mimic the human eye.

Just as the human brain processes signals received from the eyes, the computer running the SP-CUP camera processes the data from both channels into a three-dimensional movie.

The SP-CUP also has another innovation that humans don't: the ability to see the polarization of light waves.

The polarization of light refers to the direction in which light waves vibrate as they travel. In the case of a guitar string, if the string is pulled upwards (such as with a finger) and then released, the string will vibrate vertically. If a finger moves it sideways, the string vibrates horizontally. Ordinary light has waves that vibrate in all directions. However, polarized light is altered so that its waves all vibrate in the same direction. This can occur by natural means, such as when light reflects off a surface, or as a result of manual manipulation, such as the occurrence of a polarizing filter.

While the human eye cannot directly detect the polarization of light, the phenomenon has been used in a wide range of applications: from liquid crystal displays to polarized sunglasses and optical camera lenses, to devices that detect hidden stresses and three-dimensional structures of molecules in materials.